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Our blogs provide fresh, impassioned and authoritative commentary and insight about the variety of civil-liberties issues that the ACLU of Michigan takes up each day in our courts, governments and communities.

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With the help of dedicated volunteers and community activists, the ACLU of Michigan works to raise awareness about the importance of preserving the individual rights and liberties that are guaranteed to all people in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States.

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The ACLU of Michigan is one of more than 50 affiliates in the United States. As such, we encourage you to know as much as possible about your civil liberties. Further, if you feel those liberties have been violated, we suggest you submit a complaint. We only accept complaints that occur within the State of Michigan. If your complaint arose in a state other than Michigan, you must contact the ACLU office in that state.

About Us

Since our founding in 1920, the American Civil Liberties Union has led the fight to conserve our most precious liberties. Through the passion of our supporters, we have grown from a roomful of civil liberties activists to an organization of more than 500,000 active members and supporters with 54 state affiliate offices as well as a legislative office in Washington, DC.

Curt Guyette

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Filtering Democracy: Receivership Board Decision Reminder that Elected Officials Still Lack Full Power in Flint

2017-07-05 00:00:00

If anyone thought democracy had actually been returned to the residents of Flint, the Receivership Transition Advisory Board (RTAB) appointed by Gov. Rick Snyder just pulled out its hammer and shattered that illusion.

Despite public outcry, the five-person RTAB last week overrode a unanimous city council vote to place a yearlong moratorium on the imposition of liens on homes with delinquent water bills.

Important Questions Unanswered in Latest Round of Flint Criminal Charges

When involuntary manslaughter charges were filed last week against five people connected to the Flint water crisis, prosecutors presented a chilling chronology of events they claim led to 75-year-old Robert Skidmore’s death from Legionnaire’s Disease in 2015.

The Controversy Behind Michigan's Emergency Manager Law and Its Role in the Flint Water Crisis

2017-02-23 00:00:00

Michigan’s emergency manager law is once again being fingered as a primary culprit in the lead poisoning of Flint’s water supply.

First, it was a gubernatorial task force. Then a bi-partisan legislative committee. Now, the Michigan’s Civil Rights Commission, in a report released last week, is casting blame on the controversial law for its role in the ongoing Flint Water Crisis.

On the same day that Gov. Rick Snyder gave short shrift in his State of the State speech to the ongoing Flint crisis his administration created, U.S. Reps. Brenda Lawrence, D-Mich., and Elijah Cummings, D-Md., continued applying pressure in an attempt to hold accountable those responsible for the poisoning of a city’s water supply.

Flint Residents Deserve Unfiltered Truth

2017-01-13 00:00:00

Once broken, trust can be almost impossible to repair.

This maxim is more than evident in Flint, where residents were repeatedly given false assurances that their water was safe for 18 months following the disastrous switch in April 2014 to the Flint River as the city’s water source.

Who can blame these same residents for refusing to believe that Gov. Rick Snyder’s administration –the primary culprit in this unthinkable crime committed against a city – now only has the people’s best interests at heart?

Charges Against Emergency Managers Underscore Folly of Shortsightedness that Created Flint Water Crisis

2016-12-20 00:00:00

Although it wasn’t mentioned directly by name when state Attorney General Bill Schuette announced the filing of felony charges against four officials connected to the Flint water crisis, Michigan’s controversial emergency manager law was, for many, the target of the harshest indictment handed down Tuesday.

Flint Schools: Dealing With the Damage Done

2016-10-19 00:00:00

The most recent numbers showing lead levels in the water of Flint’s public schools continue to hit with spine-chilling impact.

Thirty months after an appointed emergency manager made the ill-fated decision to begin using the dangerously corrosive Flint River as the municipal water source for a city of nearly 100,000 people, the water is still not safe to drink unless it first passes through a filter.

That’s after a year of intense study by federal, state and local officials as well as some of the nation’s leading experts from a variety of universities.